@MiniDiva Thank you posting all this information for us Luke fans. Luke's mom's message has left tears in my eyes still. What a great family and it's no wonder Luke turned out to be the outstanding individual he is. The USWeekly article just made me angrier at TPTB than I already was. I am boycotting their franchise and will not watch 1 minute of the bachelor 21 season - my Monday nights will be free to go to another channel and increase their standings instead of ABC's.

That picture someone was kind enough to post was sweet and at least it made me laugh at Luke still able to show his sense of humor. I hope there will be many more posted on here for those Luke fans like me that do not have access to snap chat.

The season 12 standout then squeezes in a quip as he says with a laugh, "If he doesn’t work out for a fourth season, I’m sure he’d be up for a fifth season." Brad Womack — the show's only two-time Bachelor thus far — would be proud!

He invited him on his show and must have been e-mailing with Luke bts as it seems. Luke may have declined to be on his show because he didnt want to perform a cover song. Just speculation on the last part but what I gather from Luke's faves and RT's on twitter. Anyways Luke says it was a misunderstanding

bachelor_bachelorette_usa Luke Pell Found Out About 'Bachelor' Switch-Up 11 Hours Before Flight to L.A: ‘I Had My Bags Packed' (Us Weekly)Both the Twitter accounts of Luke Pell and Mike Fleiss implied another last minute change had occurred (remember Caila?). I was hoping to comfort Chase and Luke fans with the idea that they could be Bachelor another time but it looks like Luke is out. Fair enough. It can't be easy to plan your life around "what ifs." Good luck @luke__pell Wishing you love!!

It's true: Luke Pell had his bags packed and his contract finalized. He was ready to fly to Los Angeles for the announcement that he would be the next Bachelor—until he got a call saying the network had gone a different direction.

"Over the past few weeks leading up to the announcement, we had come to terms with a contract that everyone on both ends was happy with. We planned out what the season would look like in detail. They even asked about my sister coming on an episode of the show. Casting was almost, if not completely, finalized," he tells E! News.

But everything ended abruptly last weekend. "The decision was made apparently on Sunday, and I was supposed to fly to L.A. Monday and already had all my bags packed. They called me Sunday night and said it wasn't me. I didn't know who the Bachelor was—I found out with the rest of America."

The move was surprising—and though Pell tells us he's doing "fine," he's not pleased with the way the situation was handled.

"I'm fine, I'm content. It's the same as how I left The Bachelorette, unexpectedly. I felt like I didn't deserve that," he says, adding that there's no ill will toward Nick Viall, who ended up being the surprise new Bachelor. "I don't have a problem with it if they think that they have a better candidate for the show, that's fine. But it's the way that it was handled. Asking me to be genuine and authentic and open and vulnerable…and then I don't get genuine and authentic in return from the organization."

As for now, Pell is pleased to be at home in Tennessee and has plenty of plans for the future. "I'm so happy to be back in Nashville," he reveals. "I have a couple entrepreneurial ventures and non-profits I'm working with. I'm also a songwriter. I love what I do, and I loved it before I was ever cast on The Bachelorette. I'm excited, and I'm glad I have so many good friends in Nashville. I'm excited for what the future holds."

@truelovealways wrote:He invited him on his show and must have been e-mailing with Luke bts as it seems. Luke may have declined to be on his show because he didnt want to perform a cover song. Just speculation on the last part but what I gather from Luke's faves and RT's on twitter. Anyways Luke says it was a misunderstanding

@truelovealways wrote:He invited him on his show and must have been e-mailing with Luke bts as it seems. Luke may have declined to be on his show because he didnt want to perform a cover song. Just speculation on the last part but what I gather from Luke's faves and RT's on twitter. Anyways Luke says it was a misunderstanding

Luke has accepted now - it looks like they got the misunderstanding cleared up per Luke twitter:

https://twitter.com/Luke__Pell/status/771365898246643712

I think that was from yesterday when they first asked Luke to be on the show and Luke responded with that than Bobby Bones made that tweet about Luke not wanting to come and play and cover. Then, Luke said that it was a misunderstanding and that he would love to come onto the show. Hopefully they figure it out and Luke goes onto the show!

The misunderstanding apparently happened after that tweet as they were supposedly talking about him on the show this morning. I didn't realize this was the fan forum when I posted though so idk if it's allowed to be discussed here

Luke Pell may not be the Bachelor, but he's still looking forward to finding love -- just not on a reality TV show!

ET caught up with the 31-year-old war veteran, who appeared on JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette, on Friday, where he revealed fans probably won't be seeing his face on any Bachelor-related shows in the future after he was "blindsided" by ABC's recent Bachelor casting switch-up.

"At this point, I really don't want to go back into working on and in this franchise," Pell, who says he was all set to star as season 21's leading man before the network went with Nick Viall, explained. "If I was asked to do Paradise, I don't think that that's something I would be interested in. If I was asked to be on The Bachelor [in the future], I really wouldn't be interested at this point."

"It's just that -- I do have kind of a bitter taste in my mouth about the whole process," he continued, later adding that after this week, "that's just not something that's going to work for me."

Despite the shocking casting, Pell has remained positive and is excited about what's to come.

"I'm happy to be back in control of my own destiny, and kind of in the driver's seat for what's next," Pell continued. "I'm excited about who I'm going to meet, and who I'll end up with. I know that there is the right person out there for me, and I'm so excited about what that future might be and I can't wait to get started!"

"It definitely helps me to look forward and know that I've got so many people that support me and are backing me," he said, thanking his friends, family and fans. "I'm excited for my future."

Pell told ET his new outlook actually began when he returned home to Nashville, trying to put the pieces of his broken heart back together after Fletcher said goodbye to him on The Bachelorette. But a part of him was hoping he'd get to be the one handing out roses this time around, which distracted him from fully settling into his normal Nashville life.

"Over those few months after the [show wrapped], I got back to a place where I was happy -- I was happy for JoJo and Jordan [Rodgers] and their future," he dished. "I was ready to move on, and I started getting more excited about what the future might hold for me, who might be in my future."

"The opportunity to be the Bachelor and meet someone through that process -- although it can be stressful, it did work for me -- so I started really looking forward to that," he continued. "Being very hopeful about what the future held and how that might work for me."

Pell said that he was "excited" and "ready" to be announced as the new Bachelor during the Bachelor in Paradise post-show, After Paradise. He had already checked into his flight online, and was preparing to make the journey to L.A. the following day when, all of a sudden, his world turned upside down. Just hours before he was supposed to leave for the airport, Pell got a call from the network, and everything came to "an abrupt halt."

"I had finally got to the point where I thought, 'This is going to happen,'" he explained. "I didn't have to worry about the rug being pulled out underneath me … there was just all those preparations I had made mentally, that I had made emotionally, and just had really, you know, decided to put my life on hold to fully engage back in this process and be in it 100 percent. I was willing and happy to do [that]."

"Sometimes with this business, things completely change," Pell added. "I'm almost getting used to these dramatic swings of relationships and commitments. So, almost in the same manner I left The Bachelorette in such a shocking way in my relationship with JoJo, I almost have the shame shock -- you know, feeling like I'm getting hit by a freight train and blindsided."

At the time, he had no idea who was chosen as his Bachelor replacement -- just like his fans, he had to wait until the BIP after-show aired to discover it was Viall.

"Yeah, I heard along with the rest of America that Nick was chosen when he was introduced on the show," he revealed. "It was a very dramatic start to this past week, for sure."

Regardless of how things turned out, he's happy for Viall. "I hope the best for Nick," Pell said. "I wish him the best."